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Furniture maker renews warning after 2 kids die

WUSA
1:23 p.m. EST February 27, 2014

Lane Home Furniture is urging people to check if they own a cedar chest it stopped making nearly 30 years ago. The chests were made between 1912 and 1987 and can be identified by the Lane and Virginia Maid brands inside of them.(Photo: CPSC)

NEW YORK (AP) - Lane Home Furniture is urging people to check if they own a cedar chest it stopped making nearly 30 years ago, after two children recently suffocated to death inside the chest.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said a latch on the chest automatically locks when closed. Lane originally recalled about 12 million of the chests in 1996 after other deaths, but the chests are still being bought at second-hand stores or handed down by families.

The chests were made between 1912 and 1987 and can be identified by the Lane and Virginia Maid brands inside of them.

Consumers who own the chest should immediately remove the latch and Lane at 800-327-6944 for replacement hardware.

The CPSC says a total of nine children have died inside the chests. The two who recently died were a brother and sister from Franklin, Mass., who were 7 and 8 years old.